Crazy climb

Yesterday I went on a ride with my good friend Adam Penny. Toward the end of the ride we saw an interesting hill, little did we know this climb would gain 650 feet in under a mile!

More to come later

I will post about Christmas in a couple of days. In the meantime here is something to keep you entertained.

This past weekend

So this past weekend was pretty good. I got out of school for Christmas break on Thursday morning, got a good ride in on Friday and the real excitement started on Saturday. On Saturday I met two of my teammates and we rode down to Greenville SC to do the Sulivan charity ride. The charity ride was in place of the Winter bike league. The ride was 63 miles and included Craig Lewis and George Hincapie. After the ride about 4 of my new teammates and I went out for another 20 miles which included a climb over Paris Mountain. Sunday included a one hour recovery ride and another dinner at my girlfriends grandparents house. I am headed for Shreveport Louisiana on Thursday to spend a week with my mom, stepdad, brother, and my grandpa for Christmas. Also next year I will be riding a Specialized Tarmac SL Pro. Thats all I have for now.

Front

Back

The bike I will be riding next year

New Team and having fun while riding

So I thought I would let you guys know that for 2009 I will be racing for Globalbike presented by Catoma outdoors. The team is made up of 10 cat 1,2 riders and is based out of Greenville, SC. I am very excited about next year and being part of a great program. You can check out what Globalbike is all about by going here. So be looking out for us all over the southeast and more in the 2009 racing season! I also went on a pretty cool ride today. I decided I would climb one of of my favorite mountains, Barewallow. The climb is 2.5 miles long and averages 7%. I took some pictures of todays ride and also some video climbing up the mountain. So here they are:

Wearing the jersey I won from Dilworth Crit








The start of the climb



The top of the climb.

UWBL

Yesterday was the first Upstate Winter Bike League. There were about 140 people riding in the A's. It was a fun day riding with the new team and meeting some new people. After the ride about 25 people went to Barleys for some pizza.  If you have not done the UWBL before I highly recomend it. Its a great way to get a good ride in and practice skills for bike racing. Starting in January the rides will be 90-100 miles and there will be attack zones. Points will be awarded from the placing in the attack zones. There will be a points leader vest and an overall leader vest. The rides are every Saturday and they start at 10a.m. at Carolina triathlon. Thats all I have for now but I leave you with this funny video. I will also be posting about my new team in the near future.

MARIO KART (REMI GAILLARD)
by nqtv

Off Season

Its been a while since I have updated this blog. I find it hard to sit down and come up with something entertaining to write about. I ended the season in October on a high note by getting 4th place in the Greenville Spring Series and took about 2 weeks off the bike. Lately I have been riding 3 times a week and running 1 or 2 times. Last night I went to The Orange Peel to see one of my faovrite bands Puddle of Mudd. It was amazing! It was the 3rd time I had seen them and it was by far the best show they have done. Sadly I forgot my camera and was unable to get any photos. Thats all I have to talk about now but keep checking back because I will be posting about the new team  I will be riding for next year in the coming weeks.

-Andre

One of my favorite songs from Puddle of Mudd

Carolina Cup

Yesterday I did the Carolina cup in Greensboro NC. I did the Juniors in the morning and the Pro 1/2 in the afernoon

Juniors: The first lap everyone was very ancy and guys were trying to get away. Every move was brought back and I just sat in and saved energy. Went the field went across the Start line for the start of the second lap they just sat up so I decided it would be my turn to out in an attack. I quickly had a gap and I got to work to stay away. I was joined by Alder Martz and Daniel Greene. We worked together pretty well with me doing most of the work. Alder tried to get away but I was on his wheel like glue. I was on the front for the whole last lap and at about 250 meters from the line a started my sprint and held off Alder and Danielle for first. It was a great race and I was confident going into the Pro 1/2.


Pro 1/2: My goal for this race was to sit in and try to get a top 20 because that was how deep the payout was. The start of the race was pretty chill with a break going away early. Eventually things started to heat up and the field got serious about catching the break. Guys were attacking like crazy and my legs were tired from the Junior race earlier in the day. I just barley missed the group of guys that went up the road and caught the break. Not for sure what place I got but I think it was at least top 25. I was happy considering it was only my 3rd pro race. Not many races left in the season, but here is what I have left.

September 13: Asheville Grand Prix
September 20: Dylan Mitchell Memorial Crit
October 11,12: Downtown Greenville Cycling Classic